Pandora's Voyage

Chapter One - The Invitation

Arabella Morgan had 21 years under her belt when she realised she was about to die. She sat alone on a broken ship floating above a broken planet. Earth had been destroyed and her small ship was in the same condition. She tried everything she could think of to fix it, but nothing worked.

As she sat in her spacesuit leaning against the wall looking out at what was once her home, she cried. She thought of her family and friends that she would never see again and decided this was it, there was no more hope. She decided to take matters into her own hands, rather than suffocating in the abyss of space. She reached for her tablet which was full of love stories, fantasies and memories of someone she struggled to remember as herself and she set it to record. This is what she said...

I remember that one June morning, as I sat at the kitchen island eating Avocado on toast in our home inside one of the fourteen domes that were placed around the globe. As I ate, I remember trying to absorb the artificial sunlight, that was beaming down from the roof of dome three and in through the glass wall, I imagined what the real sun would feel like. No one had felt it for years. I could see down the hill outside to some of the other buildings; other homes, apartments and buildings where the government worked. I had never been to any of the other 14 domes that were dotted around the world, but everyone said they were the same layout, each having a number of high-end bars, clubs and designer stores. Everything about the domes was luxurious, apart from the fact that they were predominately only for the rich. Those who lived outside were looked down upon like peasants. They had to wear 'breathers' as the atmosphere was so clogged you could no longer breathe without one and were crammed into derelict towns and cities that were bursting at the seams with the magnitude of the population. Outside, the sky was a continuous cloud of thick yellow smog. People got sick all the time and were not able to get proper healthcare as that was designated only for those who resided in the domes. It made me feel sick to think about it now. I should have tried harder, but I was just ignorant.

I thought I was one of the lucky ones with my dad being Dr Gerald Moragan, a top engineer on the planet. He was part of the team that created the domes and Pandora. Meaning, there was no doubt about it that my family would receive the invitation, but it had been years since they started sending them and I thought we were in the clear. I couldn't think of anything worse than leaving Earth on Pandora. Not when I actually thought I could change the fate of the world. My previous ignorance makes me laugh now.

As I sat on that kitchen stall I remember the moment my father came in holding the glowing envelope of hopes and dreams. Mum, who was cutting a grapefruit, as she did every morning, noticed the look on his face as soon as he entered the room - clasping the gold envelope. "Is that what I think it is Gerald dear?" She said, as she stopped what she was doing, quickly dried off her hands and began to walk toward her husband who was nodding in agreement. "Yes! It's finally here", he replied. I looked up, pushing my annoyingly long red hair out of my face for the 100th time already that day, "what do you mean? What is it?" I asked although I knew exactly. "This my dear, is our ticket to the future!", he replied. He opened the letter and a holographic video beamed out of it. He placed it on the kitchen surface and we all gathered around to listen to the blonde woman who was being projected in front of us.

"Congratulations! You and your family have been selected to board Pandora! The luxury ship will tailor to all your hopes and dreams as we sail to the distant planet Aurora to start fresh. This journey is not going to be easy but the outcome is going to be worth it! You will be a part of the new human race. We leave on the 22nd of June and you are allowed to bring only 3 suitcases each. We look forward to seeing you onboard".

I remember staring at my parents in disbelief as they were both cheering together, I felt like I had my life ripped to pieces right in front of me. I honestly thought we were in the clear. "What does this mean? We can't leave Earth! What about the cause? I can't stop fighting now, we are so close!", I ignorantly preached. "Arabella darling, the cause has been a fun hobby but you can't actually have expected anything to change, everyone knows the Earth is past the point of return, there is no hope for it. There is only the hope of continuing our race on a different planet". Mum laughed as if my last 4 years of protest had all just been for fun. "Arabella, your mother is right, since we found Aurora five years ago, our top scientists have given up on Earth and have designated all their time and effort to figure out a way to get there. Earth is beyond hope you must have known this, it's simply common sense". Dad said in his judgemental yet loving voice that always made me feel 12 again.